
How. JOSIAU QUINC Y'S 



'i 











Book .ili 



Q. 



AN 

ORATION 



7 



DELIVERED 



ON TUESDAY, THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1826, 

IT BEING THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 



OF 



AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 

BEFORE THE 

SUPREME EXECUTIVE OF THE COMMONWEALTH, 

AND THE 

CITY COUNCIL AND INHABITANTS 

OF THE 



BY JOSIAH QUINCY, 

Mayor of Iho City. 



Re.livercd at tine request, and printed by oriler 
of tlie City Council, 



BOSTON : 

TRUE AND GREENE, CITY PRINl'ER'I 



1826. 



ORATION. 



On the fiftieth anniversary of the Independence of oui 
country, — on the great day of our fathers' glory, — we as- 
semble to speak concerning their virtues; and to tell of 
labours and sacrifices, by which they gave existence to our 
nation. 

More than half the term, allotted, in the ordinary course 
of Providence, to the longest human life, has elapsed, 
since that event. Those, whose age, or experience, guide 
the affairs of the present time, were then children, oi 
youths ; witnesses, without being partakers of that struggle 
How natural and suitable is it, on such an anniversary, for 
the fathers of the present day, to speak concerning the 
fathers of former days, to one another, and to their children ; 
who are destined to be the fathers of the age, which is to 
come ! 

We arc, then, fellow citizens, assembled, not to take part, 
in a light and vain show, but to perform a solemn, and 
somewhat a religious duty. Parents and children, — we 
have come to the altar of our common faith, not. like thp 



Carthaginian, to swear enmity to another nation, but, ni the 
spirit of obedience and under a sense of moral and rehgioug 
obhgation, to inquire what it is to fulfil well our duty 
to ourselves and our posterity. And while we pass 
before our eyes, in long array, the outspread images of 
our fathers' virtues, let us strive to excite, in our own 
bosoms, and enkindle in each others, that intense and sacred 
zeal, by which their patriotism was animated and refined. 
Fifty years after the occurrence of the greatest of our 
national events, we gather, with our children, around tho 
tombs of our fathers, as we trust, — and may heaven so 
grant ! — fifty years hence, those children will gather around 
ours, in the spirit of gratitude and honour ; — to contemplate 
their glory ; — to seek the lessons suggested by their exam- 
ple ; — and to examine the principles, on which they laid 
the foundations of their country's prosperity and greatness. 

But if, as Americans, it be natural and suitable to con- 
secrate this day in our affections, how much more as citi- 
zens of Boston, — inhabitants of that city, known through 
the world, as the cradle of American liberty ; — standing, as 
we do, under the canopy of that sacred temple,* which was 
honoured, in the most trying times of our revolution, by the 
boldest breathings of our chiefest patriots; which was pol- 
luted, in the most disastrous times, by the war-horse, which 
neighed and stabled, in this sanctuary ; — surrounded, as we 
are, by the direct descendants of those, who were first and 
most fearless, in the day of severest trial ! 

Where shall the memory of the great men of our rcvolu- 
" The Old South Church. 



tion be honoured, if it be not in this city, in this temple, and 
in this assembly ? 

What future age, what distant region, hearing of the 
American Revolution, shall not also hear of " Faneuil Hall" 
and of " The Old South ;" where the early spirit of Ameri- 
can liberty stood in dignity, fidelity, and fearlessness ; 
while sentries, with fixed bayonets, were at our State-house 
doors ; — while Boston was but a garrison ; its islands and 
harbours, possessed by a vindictive and indignant foe ; — its 
trade, suspended by British cruisers ; famine threatened by 
British edicts ; — and the blood of its slaughtered citizens 
flowed, like water, in its streets ! 

In what land, where the American name is known, are 
^pt, — and shall not forever be, — known, the names of those 
citizens of Boston, who were the strength and lights of their 
own lime, and the eternal glory of their country ; Adams, — 
and Hancock ; — and Otis ; — and Warren ; — and others of 
scarcely less celebrity ? 

Especially shall he not be forgotten, — now, or ever 
— that ancient citizen of Boston, that patriarch of Ameri- 
can Independence, of all New England's worthies, on 
this great day, the sole survivor.* He, indeed, oppress- 
ed by years, sinking under the burdens of decaying 
nature, hears not our public song, or voice of praise. 

* John Adams, the patriot here alluded to, expired at about 5 o'clock on 
the afternoon of this day. Thomas Jefferson, another patriot of the same 
period, also expired at about one o'clock, of the same afternoon. 

Thus two of the most distinguished statesmen of the United States, both 
members of the committee of Congress, who drafted the Declaration of 
American Independence, and who both signed that instrument ;>-both of 



or ascending prayer. But the sounds of a nation's joy;, 
rushing from our cities, ringing from our vallies, echoing 
from our hills, shall break the silence of his aged ear ; the 
rising blessings of grateful millions shall visit, with a glad 
light, his fading vision ; and flush the last shades of his 
evening sky, with the reflected splendours of his meridian 
brightness. 

How peculiarly and imperiously incumbent, then, is it on 
us, on this day, in this place, and in this assembly, to speak 
together concerning the glory of our ancestors ; — to analize 
that glory ;— and to inquire what it is to deserve, and what 
it is to disgrace those ancestors ! 

When we speak of the glory of our fathers, we mean not 
that vulgar renown, to be attained by physical strength, nor 
yet that higher fame to be acquired by intellectual power. 
Both often exist without lofty thought, or pure intent, or 
generous purpose. Tlie glory which we celebrate was 
strictly of a moral and religious character ; righteous as to 
its ends ; just as to its means. The American Revolution had 
its origin, neither in ambition, nor avarice, nor envy, noi 
in any gross passion ; but in the nature and relation of 
things, and in the thence resulting necessity of separation 
from the parent State. Its progress was limited by that ne- 
cessity. During the struggle our fathers displayed great 

wliom had been for many years Ministers of the United States at several 
European courts; both of whom had held successively the offices of Vice 
President and President of the United States, finished their mortal career 
on the fourth of July, 1826 ; it being the fiftieth anniversary of that mosf 
glorious and happy event, for themselves and their coimtrV;— -the declaro- 
tion of American Indcp«ndeiicp 



strength and great moderation of purpose. In difficuli 
times they conducted with wisdom. In doubtful times, 
with firmness. In perilous, with courage. Under oppressive 
trials, erect. Amidst great temptations, unseduced. In 
the dark hour of danger, fearless. In the bright hour of 
prosperity, faithful. It was not the instant feeling and 
pressure of the arm of despotism that roused them to resist, 
but the principle, on which that arm was extended. — 
They could have paid the stamp-tax, and the tea-tax, and 
the other impositions of the British government, had they 
been increased a thousand fold. But payment acknow- 
ledged the right ; and they spurned the consequences of 
that acknowledgment. In spite of those acts, they could 
have lived and happily ; and bought ; and sold ; and got 
gain ; and been at ease. But, they would have held those 
blessings on the tenure of dependence on a foreign and 
distant power ; at the mercy of a king, or his minions ; or 
of councils, in which they had no voice, and where 
their interests could not be represented, and were little 
likely to be heard. They saw that their prosperity in such 
case would be precarious ; their possessions uncertain ; their 
ease, inglorious. But above all they realized that those 
burdens, though light to them, would, to the coming age, — 
to us, their posterity, — be heavy and probably, insupport- 
able. Reasoning on the inevitable increase of interested 
imposition, upon those, who are without power and have 
none to help, they foresaw that, sooner or later, desperate 
struggles must come. They preferred to meet the trial in 
their own times, and to make the sacrifices in their own per- 



sons. They vveie willing iheniiielves lo euduie the toil, 
and to incur the hazard, that we and our descendants — their 
posterity, might reap the harvest and enjoy the increase. 

Generous men ! exalted patriots ! immortal statesmen ! 
For thk) deep moral and social affection, for this elevated 
self-devotion, this noble purpose, this bold daring, the mul- 
tiplying myriads of your posterity, as they thicken along the 
Atlantic coast from the St. Croix to the Mississippi, as 
they spread backwards to the lakes ; and from the 
lakes to the mountains, and from the mountains to the wes- 
tern waters, shall, on this day, annually, in all future 
time, as we, at this hour, come up to the temple of the 
Most High, with song, and anthem, and thanksgiving and 
choral symphony, and halleluia 5 to repeat your names, to 
look stedfastly on the brightness of your glory ; to trace its 
spreading rays to the points from which they emanate ; and 
to seek, in your character and conduct, a practical illustra- 
tion of public duty, in every occurring, social exigence. 

In the rapid view, I am compelled to take of the genius 
and character of our revolution, I shall chiefly fix my 
eye on this state, town and vicinity. Let other states and 
cities celebrate with due honours the great men, whose 
lights cluster in their peculiar sky. Massachusetts has a 
constellation of her own, exceeded by none, in brightness ; 
yielding to none in power ; surpassed by none in influence, 
during the first stages of the revolutionary struggle. In this 
state and in this metropolis were exhibited, among the ear- 
liest, those generous virtues and that noble daring, which 
electrified the continent. 



9 

If it be asked in what the peculiar glory of our fathers, 
in that day, consisted, — this is my answer. It consisted in 
perfectly performed duty ; according to the measure of that 
perfection, which is attributable to things human. Now real 
glory, when strictly analized, and reduced to its constituent 
principle, with all tinsel and dross separated, will be found 
to consist, and to consist only, — in truth. The glory of con- 
templation, is truth to nature. The glory of action, is truth 
to the relations, in which man is placed ; — perfect fulfilment 
of all the obligations, which result from the condition of 
things, allotted to him by Providence. 

In this point of view the glory of our fathers at the revo- 
lution may be stated, in detail, to consist in being true to 
their ancestors, true to themselves, true to their posterity ; 
and above all, in being true to virtue and liberty. 

Our fathers, at the revolution, vvere true to their ances- 
tors ; — maintaining their principles ; obeymg their precepts ; 
copying their example. 

The revolution of 1776 is called, and justly, — a mighty 
struggle for independence. But it was neither greater, 
bolder, nor more arduous, than the emigration of the first 
settlers to New England ; nor was there incurred in it more 
hazard, nor displayed, in any of its events, a more deter- 
mined spirit of independence, than were incurred and dis- 
played by the immediate descendants of those settlers ; — 
the direct progenitors of the authors of our revolution. 

Time would fail me, were I to attempt to maintain this 
position by historical references. One or two striking evi- 
dences of fact and opinion must suffice. 



10 

The emigration itself of our ancestors was, in truth, only a 
mighty struggle for Independence. According to the genius 
of the age, and the particular biass of our ancestors' minds, 
their motive took the aspect of a strong desire for a higher 
religious freedom and a purer form of religious worship. It 
is impossible however not to perceive that even this desire 
was only a mode, under which existed an intense and all 
absorbing spirit of civil freedom. In the nature of things, 
it could not, possibly, have been otherwise. They fled from 
the persecutions of the British Hierarchy. Now the strength 
of the hierarchy was in the nerve of the secular arm. It 
was that odious centaur, — not fabulous, — church and state, 
which drove them for refuge into the wilderness. This 
monster, with a political head and an ecclesiastical body, 
they hated and feared ; representing their emigration and 
sufferings, under the familiar type, of the woman of the Apo- 
calypse, who fled "into the wilderness, to a place prepared 
of God, from the face of the beast." 

We are apt to view our ancestors, of the first and second 
generations, in the light of enthusiasts. Now if by this terra 
is meant, according to its usual import, " men who through 
a vain confidence, in heaven, neglect the use of human 
means," there never existed a class of men, less entitled to 
that appellation than our fathers. Of all men they were the 
most practical. Their whole history, the colleges, schools, 
churches, all the institutions they founded, constitute one un- 
broken series of examples of the wise, and happy use, of hu- 
man means. As to their opinions, take instead of a multi- 
tude, which might be adduced, a single example. In that 



n 

famous work, entitled " Faithful advice to the churches of 
New England," sent out into the world under the auspices 
of our fathers, having the signatures of both the Mathers, 
Davenport, Colman, and others, there is the following re- 
markable vindication of the use of human learning, in reli- 
gion, urged with their characteristic acuteness. 

" No man ever decried learning without being an enemy 
to religion ; whether he knew it or no. When our Lord 
chose fishermen to be ministers ; he would not send them 
forth until they had been several years, under his tuition, — 
(a better than the best, in any college, under heaven,) and 
then, also, he miraculously furnished them with more learn- 
ing than any of us, by seven years hard study, can attain 
unto." 

It would be easy also to adduce abundant evidence of the 
free opinions entertained by the first settlers relative to 
the right of resistance to kings and to personal and colonial 
freedom, by quotations from approved authors of that peri- 
od. A single extract from the wiitiiigs of Nathaniel Ward, 
the first clergyman of the town of Ipswich, in this vicinity, 
will sufliciently manifest the temper and spirit of our ances- 
tors, in that age, on those points. This writer was so highly 
esteemed by our ancestors, that he was employed in 1639, 
by the General Court of Massachusetts, to draft that code, 
consisting of one hundred laws, called " the body of liber- 
ties" of the colony. In an eccentric, but highly popular 
work, in that day, published by him, in 1647, entitled "The 
Simple Cobbler of Agawam in America," the contest, then 
carrying on between the King and Parliament, is represent- 



12 

ed under the similitude of a controversy between royal pre- 
rogative (majestas imperii) and popular liberty (salus populi) 
and is thus stated in the quaint language of that day : 

" We hear that Majestas Imperii hath challenged Salus 
Populi into the field ; the one fighting for prerogatives, the 
other defending liberties. If Salus Populi began, surely it 
was not that Salus Populi I left in England. That Salus 
Populi was as mannerly a Salus Populi as need be. If I 
be not much deceived that Salus Populi suffered its nose 
lo be held to the grindstone, till it was ground to the gristle j 
and yet grew never the sharper, for ought 1 could discern. 
I think that since the world began, it was never storied that 
Salus Populi began with Majestas Imperii, unless Majestas 
Imperii first unharboured it and hunted it to a stand, and 
then it must turn head and live, or turn tail and die. Com- 
monwealths cost as much in the making as crowns ; and 
if they be well made, would yet outsel an ill-fashioned 
crown, in any market overt, if they be well vouched. 

" But preces and lachrtjma are the people's weapons ; so 
are swords and pistols, when God and Parliament bid them 
arm. Prayers and tears are good weapons for them that 
have nothing but knees and eyes ; but most men have teeth 
and nails. If subjects must fight for their Kings, against 
other kingdoms, when their Kings will ; I know no reason 
but they may fight against theh* Kings, for their own king- 
doms, when parliament say they may and must. But parlia- 
ment must not say they must, until God says they may-" 

The bold spirit of liberty, which characterized the first 
settlers of New England, cannot bo too highly appreciated 



13 

by their posterity. Neither are their wisdom and prudence, 
ill maintaining their hbertics, less subjects of admiration and 
applause. What state paper exists more solemn, or compre- 
hensive, than that memorable order, by which the General 
Court of Massachusetts, in 16G0, caused a committee to be 
raised, to consider the consequences to their liberties, to be 
anticipated from the restoration of Charles the Second ? 

" Forasmuch as the present condition of our affairs, in 
matters of the highest concernment, calls for diligent and 
speedy use of the best means, seriously to discuss and right- 
ly to understand our liberty and duty — thereby to beget uni- 
ty among ourselves in the due observance of obedience to 
the authority of England, and our own just privileges, for 
the effecting whereof, it is ordered that Simon Bradstreet, 
&c. be a committee to consider and debate such matter, 
or thing of public concernment, touching our patent, laws, 
privileges, and duty to his majesty, as they may judge expe- 
dient, that so, (if the will of God be,) we may speak and 
act the same thing, becoming prudent, honest, conscientious 
and faithful men." 

Now what their notion of these "just privileges" was^ 
may be gathered from " their refusing to make the oath 
of allegiance necessary," — " refusing to cause proceedings 
at law to be in the name of the King." " Maintaining that 
liberty of conscience justified their removal to this quarter 
of the world, — that with removal their subjection to Eng- 
land ceased, and that the sovereignty of the soil was in them, 
because purchased by them of the native princes."^ 

■ Hutciiinson's Hist, of Mass. 1 vol. ch. 2 



14 

That these were doctrines, holden and avowed by " per* 
faons of influence," among the early emigrants to New Eng- 
land, we know from history. Their patent, or old charter, 
itself was, in fact, only an incorporation for trade, turned, 
by the dexterity of the first settlers, into a civil sovereignty. 
And the real cause of their extreme attachment to it was 
that under colour of that instrument, they chose their own 
rulers and judges, made laws, and, in effect, were an inde- 
pendent state. 

How this theory of the ancient leaders of Massachusetts 
was seconded by the spirit of the people, will be apparent 
from a single transaction of a somewhat later period. Dur- 
ing the reign of King James the Second, our fathers had 
been insulted by the dissolution of their charter, and op- 
pressed by the proceedings of the King's Commissioners. 
The leaders of the Colony were indignant. The people 
were stung to madness. 

On the 18th of April, 1689,— The 18th and 19th of April 
are red letter days in the Calendar of American liberty, — 
On the 18th of April, 1689, say our historians, there came 
up from North Boston, that northern hive has been fa- 
mous, in all times, for a hardy, industrious, and intrepid 
race of men, there came up from North Boston a multi- 
tude of men and boys, running. The drums beat. The 
people ran to their arms. They rushed to Fort Hill j 
where was then a formidable fortification ; " standing so 
thick that one gun from the fort would have killed a l^un- 
dred of them ', but God prevented !" *They scaled the 

* Hutchinson's Hist. v. i. di. 3. 



15 

sconce ; and seizing the lower battery, they turned the guns 
" on the red coats in the fort," who surrendering at discre- 
tion, — they took the king's council prisoners ; and put the 
king's governor under guard ; they sent the captain of the 
king's frigate to jail ; and turned the batteries on the 
king's frigate herself; and the country people coming in, 
tlie elders and fathers took possession of the king's govern- 
ment ; and thus was effected a glorious revolution, here, in 
Massachusetts, thirty days before it was known, that King 
William, of glorious memory, had just effected a similar 
glorious rev^olution on the other side of the Atlantic. 

It is very obvious that the fate of New England was sus- 
pended on the fate of the Prince of Orange. Had he 
failed, our ancestors, of that day, would have had to expiate 
the guilt of treason, in exile, or confiscation, or on the scaf- 
fold. How truly then may it be said, that the spirit of our 
ancestors, of the first age, was emulated by the immediate 
authors of our independence, and that these descendants 
were true to the example and glory of their predecessors ! 

If we descend from the era of the English revolution, to 
the middle of the last century, wc find the same daring 
spirit of hberty promulgated, not by irresponsible scribblers, 
in anonymous pamphlets, but by the highest colonial law- 
yers, on the floor of state, and by the most learned colonial 
clergy, from their pulpits. Take, for example, an extract 
from a sermon, entitled " A Discourse concerning Unlimited 
Submission to *fhe higher powers^ with some reflections on 
the resistance to King Charles the First, and on the anni- 
z^ersary of his death, in which the mysterious doctrine of that 



prince's salnishijf and martyrdo'in is unriddled. Pi-eached 
by Jonathan Mayhew, pastor of the West Church in Bos- 
ton. Among other doctrines, not less bold and decisive, he 
lays down the following : 

*' A people, really oppressed to a great degree by their 
sovereign, cannot well be insensible when they are so op- 
pressed. And SMch a people, if I may allude to an ancient 
fable, have, like the Hesperian fruit, a Dragon for their 
Protector and guardian. Nor would they have an}- reason 
to mourn, if some Hercules, should appear to dispatch him. 
For a nation, thus abused, to arise unanimously, and to re- 
sist their prince, even to the dethroning him, is not criminal ; 
but a reasonable way of vindicating their liberties and just 
rights." 

Now it must be remembered, that this discourse was 
preached six and twenty years, before the era of our revo- 
lution, by the most learned and popular preacher of his day ; 
that it was published " at the request of his hearers ;" that 
the thing was not done in a corner, nor circulated in a 
whisper, but as the title page has it — Anno, 1750. Boston. 
New England. " Printed and sold by D. Fowle, in Queen 
street, and by D. Gookin, over against the Old South Meet- 
ing house." 

There is no need of farther proof that the fathers of our 
revolution were true to their ancestors, both distant and im- 
mediate ; obeying their precepts ; copying their example?, 
and acting up to their characters. 

It remains for us to observe, that the fathers of our 
rovohition vfere also true to themselves and true to poster!- 



n 

ty ; and in this, above all, that they were true to virtue and 
liberty. 

There were three great principles, which, in the opin- 
ion of our ancestors, in every age, constituted the essence of 
colonial liberty ; and with which, in their minds, it was 
identified. 

1. That their rulers and judges should be chosen by and 
responsible to themselves. 

2. That the right of laying taxes on the inhabitants of the 
colonies should belong exclusively to their own represen- 
tatives. 

3. That their religious rights should depend wholly on 
their colonial laws and constitutions. 

The first of these principles was the object of the strug- 
gles of the first settlers of New England and their inm^e- 
diate descendants. They exercised this liberty between 
fifty and sixty years. They lost it by the dissolution of 
their old charter. That of William and Mary did not restore 
it. Among other obnoxious provisions in this last chuiter, 
the appointment of tlie Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and 
Secretary, with a qualified apellate judicial jurisdiction, was 
reserved to the crown. 

The loss of this branch of liberty was submitted to with 
reluctance, and endured with great impatience. The deep 
yearning of our fathers' hearts, after their ancient liberty, is 
to be seen in every subsequent page of their political histo- 
ry, and was one of the active, though hidden, causes of our 
revolution. 

On the second great principle of colonial liberty, that 
3 ^ 



18 

laxatioii anct representation are inseparable, the American 
revolution turned. 

Now the just estimate made by our fathers of the im- 
portance of that principle, — the self-devotion with which 
they maintained it, — the boldness, with which they put in 
jeopardy hfe, liberty, property, reputation, whatever man 
holds dear, in hope or in possession, to vindicate it, are the 
great central points, from which radiates their glory at the 
revolution. 

At a superficial view, we are inclined to wonder at the 
inflexible firmness of our fathers in opposition to the stamp 
and tea taxes, and the other British impositions, at that 
period. The amount small ; comparatively little burden- 
some ; for the most part affecting articles of luxury, or of 
occasional use. We are tempted to exclaim, what griev- 
ous oppression in all this ? A single year of war would 
exceed, in expense, the loss, in fifty years, from such taxes. 
And when we look at the subject, in point of principle, 
their condition would not have been a whit vi'orse than im- 
mense classes of British subjects, who pay taxes, without 
having any voice in the choice of their rulers. Arguments 
and facts of this kind were urged on our fathers, in every 
form of reason and eloquence; enforced by appeals to 
their hopes, from the smiles of royal favour ; by appeals to 
iheir fears, from the terrors of royal power. But they stood 
as the mountain rock, which ahke mocks the melting heat 
of the summer's sun, and the uprooting blasts of the win- 
ter's storm. By such considerations the flame of their 
enkindled zeal was neither quenched, nor allayed. Their 



19 

unyielding fixedness of principle, in tins respect, does infi- 
nite credit to their sagacity and virtue. 

For when we consider more carefully this principle, so 
earnestly asserted by Great Britain, and so resolutely re- 
sisted by our fathers, we shall find that, to human view, 
it contained the whole hope of American Independence : 
for the then present, and all future, times. The possibility 
of American Independence, at any time, depended upon 
the union of the colonies, in some common principle of op- 
position to the pretensions of Great Britain. Now this righi 
being conceded, it was scarce possible that any such com- 
mon principle should exist ; much less become a bond of 
union among the colonies. Tliis right admitted, every 
thing else was but mode and measure ; an affair of dis- 
cretion. What hope that they, who could not unite in re- 
sistance to the whole right, could be ever brought to com- 
bine in resistance to a particularly oppressive degree in the 
exercise of it .'' Besides, how easy would it have been for 
Great Britain, by settling any obnoxious degree, in mode 
or measure, differently in different colonies, to take 
from some, all motive to co-operate in the resistance of 
others ! This principle, therefore, being yielded, there was, 
to human view, no subsequent hope of independence for 
the colonies. That principle was worthy, therefore, of all 
the importance attached to it by our fathers ; worthy of 
all the sacrifices they made in its defence. Their fore- 
sight, their energy and inflexible spirit, on this point, are 
among the brightest beams, in the glory of that day. 



20 

Of a similar type is the self-deniaJ, to which they sub- 
mitted, and the hazards, which they voluntarily incurred, for 
the sake of that principle- By submission, they would, in 
their own time, have enjoyed peace, secured plenty, attained 
external protection under the shield of Great Britain, and 
in the gradual advance of society, they had reason to expect 
to arrive, even in the colonial state, at a very elevated and 
enviable condition of prosperity. On the other hand, what 
were the hazards of resistance ? The untried and oot to 
be estimated perils of civil war ;— " a people, in the gristle 
and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood," to rush 
on the thick bosses of the buckler of the most powerful 
state in Europe ; the one most capable of annoying them ; 
without arms, or resources, to enter the lists with the best 
appointed nation on the globe ; destitute of a sloop of war, 
to wage hostilities with a country whose navies commanded 
every sea and even their own harbours. — In case of suc- 
cess, — the chance of anarchy and the unknown casualties 
attending a new organization of society. In case of failure, — 
exile, confiscation, the scaffold, the fate of some ; to bear 
the opprobrious names of rebel and traitor, and to transmit 
them to a disgraced posterity, the fate of all. 

What appeals to selfishness ! what to cupidity ! what to 
love of ease, to fear, and to pusillanimity ! But our fathers 
took council of a different spirit; — of the pure ethereal 
spirit, which glowed and burned in their own bosoms. In 
spite of the greatness of the temptation and the certainty of 
the hazard, they resisted ; and the front ranks of opposition 
were filled, not by a needy, promiscuous, unknown and 



21 

irresponsible crowd, but by the heart, and mind, and strength, 

of the colony ; — by the calm and calculating merchant ; — 

by the cautious capitalist ; — by the sedate and pious divine ; — 

by the far-looking, deep read lawyer ; — by the laborious and 

tic 
intelligent mechanic. We have no need to repea, names. 

The entire soul, and sense, and sinew, of society were in 

action. 

The spirit of our revolution is not to be sought in this, or 
that, individual ; nor in this, or that, order of men. It was 
the mighty energy of the whole mass. It was the momentous 
heaving of the troubled ocean, roused, indeed, by the coming 
tempest, but propelled onward by the lashing of its own 
waters, and by the awful, irresistible impulse of deep seated 
passion and power. 

In this movement, those, who were foremost, were not 
always those of most influence ; nor were the exciting 
causes always the most obtrusive to the eye. All were 
pressed forward by the spirit, inherent in the community, — 
by force of public opinion and sense of duty, which never 
fell behind, but was often in advance of those, who were 
called leaders. 

The event has shown that our fathers judged rightly in 
this movement ; that their conception was just concerning 
their means and their duties ; that they were equal to the 
ciisis, in which Providence had placed them ; that, daring 
to be free, their power was equal to their daring. — They 
vindicated liberty for themselves. — They transmitted it to us, 
their posterity. — There is no truer glory, no higher fame- 
known, or to be acquired, among men. 



How different would have been our lot, at this day, both 
us men and citizens, had the revolution failed of success, or 
had the great principle of liberty, on which it turned, been 
yielded ! Instead of a people, free, enlightened, rejoicing in 
their ^. jsngth, possessing a just consciousness of being the 
authors and arbiters of their own and their country's destinies, 
we should have been a multitude, without pride of inde- 
pendence, without sense of state, or national sovereignty ; 
looking across the ocean for our rulers ; watching the 
Atlantic sky, as the cloud of court locusts, tempted by our 
g.reenness, came, warping on the eastern breeze ; waiting 
on the strand to catch the first glimpse of our descending 
master ; some transatlantic chieftain ; some royal favourite ; 
some court sycophant ; sent to govern a country, without 
knowing its interests ; without sympathy in its prospects ; 
resting, in another hemisphere, the hopes of his fame and 
fortune. Our judges coming from afar. Our merchants 
denied all commerce, except with the parent state. Our 
clergy sent us, like our clothes, ready made ; and cut in the 
newest court fashion. None but conformists allowed to vote. 
None but churchmen eligible. Our civil rights subject to 
crown officers. Our religious, to a foreign hierarchy, cold, 
selfish, vindictive, distant, solicitous about glebes and tythes, 
but reckless, among us, of the spread of the hght of learning, 
or the influence of the gospel. 

How different also would have been the fate and aspect 
of the present age, had the American revolution never com- 
menced, or had it failed ! Under Providence, this revolution 
has been the chief, if not the sole cause of that impulse to 



ihe iiuman mind, which, during the last half cenUuyj has 
changed the face of Europe and elevated the hope of man. 
The light of truth and reason, reflected across the Atlantic 
from the mighty mirror of American liberty, penetrated the 
cottages of peasants and the cabinets of Kings. The multi- 
tude were propelled upon thrones. Kings have consequently 
been induced to soften the ligours of ancient servitude. In 
every part of Europe, the cliains of subjects are lightened. 
Sovereigns daily realize, more and more, the necessity of 
admitting the people to a voice, in their councils, and to a 
qualified weight, in state affairs. Under the influence of 
this condition of things, knowledge has been increased and 
diffused ; the rights of man vindicated ; a free intercourse 
of commerce, science and arts, introduced on both sides of 
the Atlantic, unparalleled in human history ; and giving 
promise of an advancement in freedom, morals, and refine- 
ment, exceeding the hope, or conception, of former times. 
Under these auspices, the patriotic theories and visions of 
JVIilton, Harrington, Algernon Sidney, and Locke, are begin- 
ning to be realized ; the capacity of man to govern himself 
to be demonstrated ; the great truth promulgated and carried 
home to the bosoms of all sovereigns, even the most arbitrary, 
that they, who would govern man long, must govern him 
justly, and treat him as a rational, accountable and moral 
being ; that they must respect his essential rights and even 
towards servitude itself, recognize the principles of a substan- 
tial freedom. 

Such was the genius and character, and such the proud 
results of the American Revolution. Such the glory of ouv 



24 

fathers. Such the glowing poinlb, from which that gloiy 
radiates. 

It is suitable, and it is our duly, on this occasion, to in- 
quire, what it is to maintain that genius and character ; 
what it is to deserve, and what to disgrace, those ancestors. 

In listening to the preceding development, fellow citizens, 
it is impossible that each of you should not have reahzed, 
individually, your interest in the character and conduct of 
our fathers. It is a law of nature. The virtue and glory 
of fathers is the most precious inheritance of their posterity. 
By this law, an indissoluble, moral union, connects times 
past and future, with times present. Without that law, man 
would be a creature of the day ; grovelling in selfishness ; 
wallowing in the mire of sense ; with eye, and taste, and 
thought, all downward ; with no backward regard ; with no 
forward hope ; with no upward aim. But this eternal, moral 
connection, which is established by Providence in his nature, 
gives him, as it were, existence in the days of old, and ex- 
istence, in the times, which are to come ; and instead of a 
being, destined, as the term of his natural life seems to in- 
dicate, to exist only a (ew, short years, bestows upon him, 
even in this world, a glorious immortality. 

By this law, it is made the duty of man, in every age, in 
gratitude for the inheritance he receives, to transmit!it faith- 
fully to those, who succeed ; not diminished ; not cor- 
rupted ; not soiled ; but if possible, enlarged ; strengthened; 
purified ; increased both in splendour and usefulness. 

The occurring circumstances of every age make, indeed, 
the duties of each succeeding generation different. But, in 



2o 

consulting concerning those duties, it will not be difficuU 
for this, or any future age, to determine in what they con- 
sist, provided, according to the example, and in the lan- 
guage of our fathers, we endeavour, " so to understand our 
liberty and duty, as to beget unity among ourselves, and to 
act and speak, as becomes prudent, iionest, conscientious 
and faithful men." 

It is true, that we, in this age, are not called, as our 
fathers were, to take our lives in our hands, and bare our 
breasts to the tempest and shock of war. But such dangers 
and sacrifices are not essential to the existence of true 
glory. This, as I have endeavoured to illustrate, consists 
not in the particular part, we are called to act, but in the 
manner, in which we perform the part, to which we are 
called. The essence of true glory is principle. Our fa- 
thers endured the hardships, and despised the dangers, of 
the field of battle, not for the sake of the species of glory 
there to be acquired, but because battle was the mode, ap- 
pointed by Providence, for them to vindicate their truth to 
the relations of things, in which it had placed them. They 
could, in no other mode, have fulfilled their duty to those 
relations. 

Now this glory is just as applicable to us, as to them. 
The labours and sacrifices of our fathers have, indeed, left 
us a noble inheritance. But our tenure of that inheritance 
is not absolute, but conditional. Jf we would maintain it, 
and transmit it, unimpaired, to our posterity, we must, like 
our fathers, be true to the relation of things, in which we 
4 



stand ; and particularly, to those, in which we stand to that 
very inheritance. Now truth to those relations, as it re- 
spects us, consists in our fulfilling the conditions, on which 
the continuance of that inheritance depends. These con- 
ditions are, — that we understand our liberties, — that we 
value them as we ought, — that we are willing to make the 
sacrifices of time, labour and attention, necessary for the 
preserving them ; and are vigilant in defending them, not 
against external foes, to which, in all probability, we shall 
never be called, but against a much more insidious foe, — 
the passion, corruption and weakness of our own hearts. 
The great principle, for which our fathers contended, 
and the maintaining of which constituted their glory, was, 
in fact, the right of self-government, — the right of choosing 
their own rulers ; in other words, the right of possessing 
themselves, and of transmitting to posterity, the elective 
franchise, in its most pure and perfect state. Now this 
great privilege, it belongs to us to maintain, by a right and 
wise use of it ; and to transmit it to posterity the purer by 
our example, — the safer by our use, — and the more pre- 
cious from the obvious blessings, resulting from this our 
fidelity. This is our duty. In this consists our glory. 

Let every man, therefore, who inquires, what it is to de- 
serve, and what it is to disgrace, our ancestors, consider 
his conduct in this respect. Let him ask himself, — whether 
he truly appreciates the nature and greatness of that privi- 
lege, — whether he is faithful to liberty, to morals and re- 
ligion, in the exercise of it, — whether he is indifferent about 



27 

]^j__or neglects it, — or sports with it. And so let every 
man answer for himself ; — his own conscience being his 
judge. And let all remember that, in the ways of Provi- 
dence to nations, as well as to individuals, there is retribution 
as well as favour. No people ever did, or ever can, long 
enjoy any privilege, and, least of all, the elective franchise, 
who systematically undervalue it ; — or abuse it ; — or are 
even indifferent about it. 

Again, truth to liberty, to virtue, to our ancestors, and to 
the relation of things, in which we stand, has respect, also, 
to the manner, in which we conduct towards those, on whom 
the elective lot has fallen, and in whose favour it has been 
declared. 

It is the nature of man, under a free constitution, to di- 
vide into parties, according to that diversity of views, inter- 
est, opinions, passions, and even fancies, which are insepa- 
rable from his constitution. This condition of things is not 
to be deprecated, or condemned. It is to be understood 
and acted upon. 

Now the duty, which each individual, in a free repub- 
lic, owes to rulers, is just the same, whether they do, or do 
not, belong to the particular sect, or party, he happens to 
prefer. Truth to the relations of things, in which we stand, 
requires that our rulers, should be judged, not by 
any previous prejudice, or theory, but by their conduct, 
while in power ; by the measures they recommend and 
countenance. These measures are to be received in a 
candid, generous spirit, and with fuir and manly construe- 



23 

tion. Those, therefore, will be false to the g^enius and 
character of our revolution, who, regardless of the measures 
of rulers, shall wage war upon them, merely because they 
do not belong to -their own particular sect, or party ; or, 
who shall decry wise measures, or misrepresent the mo- 
tives of just ones, with the sole view of pulling down one 
individual, or of building up another ; or who, making the 
liberty of debate, or of the pi ess, a cloak for licentiousnesSj 
shall pervert, both, or either, to purposes of m^alevolence, or 
slander. 

Above all, those will be false to the genius and character 
of our revolution, who shall associate themselves with politi- 
cal leaders, without reference to principles ; who shall deny 
rulers the chance to show their real projects, by the course 
of their administration, but shall wage war upon them from 
the very beginning, on the principle of political extermina- 
tion. 

There can be no surer sign that the liberties of a people 
are hastening to a dissolution, than their countenancing those,, 
who form parties on men, and not upon principles. When- 
ever the only question is, whether Ca3sar, or Pompey, Lepi- 
dus, or Mark Anthony shall rule, and the people are cor- 
rupt, or debased enough, from mere personal affection oi 
preference, to flock to either standard, — such a people are 
not far distant from a revolution, which will not leave them 
even the poor privilege of choosing their own masters. 

Thus you perceive, fellow citizens, that the glory of our 
iathers, which we this day celebrate, was not of a tempera- 



29 

i-y, or individual character ; — that there is nothing exclusive 
in its nature ; — that it may be shared and emulated b} the 
truly noble of our race, in every age ; — that it essentially 
consists in possessing and exhibiting, in all our public rela- 
tions, a pure, just, elevated and manly spirit. 

And now, fellow citizens, consider your privileges. Con- 
sider your duties. By the virtues of your fathers you have 
been preserved from an ignominious bondage. Beware 
lest you become subjected to a more grievous bondage of 
base, ignoble passions. As they subdued their enemies in 
the field, do you subdue those enemies, which have their 
strong holds in the human heart, and which have laid low 
in the dust, the proud hopes of all former republics ; — 
" ambition — avarice — love of riches and the corruptions of 
prosperity."* Be as just, as temperate, as moderate in pre- 
serving your libeity, as your fathers were bold and daring 
in repelHng the chains of servitude. Be penetrated with " a 
love of liberty, — of religion, — of justice and virtue, and in- 
flamed with a sacred zeal and affection for your country."* 
Thus it may be hoped that tiirough the combined and stren- 
uous endeavours of true and faithful men, in all times, there 
shall be gradually infused into the mass of mankind, loftier 
thoughts, higher aims, more generous motives, whereby the 
human character, being elevated and refined, shall become 
more worthy, and thus more capable, of perfect freedom. 
And so this temple of liberty, the foundations of which were 

** Milton's Defensio, pro populo Anglicano, contra Clamiii Salmasii De- 
lensioncm ReiLMam 



JO 

laid on the fourth of July, 177G, in blood and peril, by ou*,^ 
fathers, shall, by the labours, councils, and virtues, of all the 
good and great, of present and future times, be enlarged and 
extended, in true j)rnportions of moral architecture, till its 
pillars embrace the universe, and its dome vault upwards, 
with a more thun human skill, — with glorious archings of 
celestial wisdom, — resplendent with purest faith, — radiant 
with immortal truth, — crowned with revealed hope, — to the 
joy and rest of man, on the promisp. and in the prr^^cnce of 
the- Eternal 



